G.P.S

1
G.P.S

• Alex Brashear
• Braundon Soper

2
Introduction

• Northwest Arkansas Community College has a
  forested area north of the school that has been
  used as a living laboratory. The area is a
  primary source of laboratory experiences for
  Plant Biology, Environmental Science,
  Environmental Geology, Intro to GIS as well as
  many other science courses.
• As part of the phase III expansion and
  reclamation projects, a learning community of
  science students collected GPS coordinates in the
  area over the Fall 2008 semester.

3
Overview

• Students in the Environmental Geology course
  collected GPS coordinates in the Learning
  Laboratory. Data collected was combined with
  soil, plant and geospatial data to generate an
  interactive map using GIS applications. Students
  from Environmental Geology, Plant Biology and
  Introduction to GIS collaborated to produce a
  final map showing all data collected from the
  area.

4
Objectives

• Through EAST/EMPACTS (Educationally-Managed
  Projects Advancing Curriculum, Technology and
  Service) our objective was to get an
  understanding of what GPS is and collect and map
  out GPS coordinates for future use.

5
Community

• Using GPS in the community helps inject a level
  of awareness of the surrounding locations and
  habitats that could be greatly affected by
  disruption.

6
Curriculum

• The course objective was followed by teaching us
  how to use our hands on experiences with the GPS
  technologies and out of classroom experiences as
  a learning tool to accomplish our pre-existing
  goals and class obligations.

7
Technology

• We used GPS handheld receivers to collect data
  points.
• We used Google Earth to map out points
• We used Microsoft Excel to
  record data on spreadsheets.

8
Skills Developed

• Team- Effective teamwork
• Individual- How to work proficiently in a
  restricted amount of time.
• Technology- Learning how to use GPS handheld
  devices and the programs used to map them.
• Communication- How to speak effectively with
  partners and instructors.
• Organizational- How to keep on task and focused
  through a lengthy process.

9
Methodology

• We went on Google Earth map out locations that we
  would collect data from. Copied to word and
  printed a map.
• Using the map we located the areas and collected
  the data using the handheld device.
• We used Microsoft Excel to calculate the points
  onto a spreadsheet.

10
Project Results
Latitude Longitude Conversion Latitude Longitude
GPS1 3621'37.43"N 9410'26.92"W 9410'26.92"W 36.360397 94.174144
GPS2 3621'44.48"N 9410'27.21"W 36.362356 94.174225
GPS3 3621'46.85"N 9410'21.63"W 36.363014 94.172675
GPS4 3621'42.16"N 9410'16.47"W 9410'16.47"W 36.361711 94.171242
GPS5 3621'34.69"N 9410'12.51"W 9410'12.51"W 36.359636 94.170142
11
Future Project Ideas

• A future group could expand on our research by
  using it for research projects for other classes.
  To combine it with soil samples taken to create a
  location of flower beds.

12
Acknowledgements

• Albrecht, Sarah
  Luedecke, Brian
• Beal, Andrew Martinez,
  Bernardo
• Brashear, Alexander
  Parrish, Levi
• Cooley, Christine Phillips,
  Capitola
• Cooper, Mitchell Soper,
  Braundon
• Eiler, Christopher Walker,
  Natasha
• Herbert, Lauren
  Yeakley, John
• Lowe, Daniel

13
Appendices
http//gps.gov/ (gps) http//www.arkansashighways.
com/Info/Answers/answers.htm?Record_Number83Wher
e20can20I20obtain20information20regarding20u
pcoming20highway20construction
mailtoinfo_at_arkansashighways.com (Concerns about
NWACC road construction) http//www.youtube.com/wa
tch?vE_6i8Lb9MnY (GPS- GARMIN HANDHELD
INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO) http//www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/b
ickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html (GPS- CONVERSION)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vsEpqGlIY04sfeatur
erelated (Google earth- plotting latitude and
longitude points)